Rhetorical Analysis Of Brutus Speech

Any effective argument is guaranteed to have some form of rhetoric in order to push the persuasive agenda of the author. One such example of this is in Brutus’ speech after Julius Caesar’s death when he expressed his thoughts toward Caesar, but in doing so induced slight logical fallacies. However, he continued to effectively use rhetoric to persuade the people that Julius’ death was for the good of Rome. Brutus’ claim is that he killed Julius Caesar for the good of Rome. He stresses this point all throughout the speech. In the first half of his speech he bluntly says,”Not that I loved Caesar less, but I loved Rome more. Had you rather Caesar were living and die all slaves, than that Caesar were dead, to live all free men?”” In saying this, he makes sure the people know that he did love Caesar, yet the wellbeing of Rome was more important to him. Brutus also brings a seemingly harsh reality onto the audience, almost appearing to be trying to evoke a thankful attitude from the people. He wants them to think that they had been saved from being enslaved, and that he was their savior. Through arranging the speech in this way, so as to stress that Rome is his first priority, he is also making sure to reinforce his role as a rising leader in …show more content…
When he cites Caesar’s ambitiousness in saying,”...as he was ambitious, I slew him.” this is an example of using Ad Hominem. He repetitively uses this seemingly in order to tear down Caesar, and build himself. However, even if it seems this way, it partially is. Brutus is right in saying that Caesar’s ambition had a large hand in his death, but he deserved it. He was overly ambitious, and got what was coming for him. Brutus compensates for this bad-mouthing by going on to honor Caesar and his well-deserved glory. He also says,“...his glory not extenuated, wherein he was worthy…” and further gives kudos to Caesar. Therefore, this counterclaim cannot be held